What is emotional intelligence

How often do you come across smart people who turn you off to talk to? They do not seem smart, but abstruse. They have a high IQ, but no one wants to be friends with them. Such people are good at solving logical problems, but any personal question becomes an insurmountable difficulty for them. Why it happens?

A quarter of a century ago, psychologists gave an answer to this question. Our intellect consists not only of a logical, but also an emotional part. A high IQ shows only the ability to work with logic, but not with emotions. Therefore, the concept of emotional intelligence was introduced. He will be discussed today.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to correctly interpret the emotions that you experience yourself and those around you, as well as the ability to manage them.

There is currently no scale for quantifying emotional intelligence. As a rule, separate characteristics are distinguished by which a person can be assessed. Emotional intelligence is made up of these components. Let's take a look at them separately.

The ability to express emotions

Most people have certain emotions that they are used to hiding. For example, a businessman needs to hide his fear or insecurity when making a deal. Otherwise, he simply will not receive the desired terms of the contract. Add to that the need to show emotions that we don't actually feel.

Etiquette obliges the seller to smile at the customer, not to feel joyful.

Emotion assessment

The flip side of the ability to express emotions is the ability to understand them. Moreover, to understand both the emotions experienced by those around us and those that we ourselves experience. If we evaluate our own emotions, then it is important to pay attention to how we build thoughts, what we feel. The emotions of others are analyzed in terms of appearance, facial expressions, gestures, intonations, and so on.

The evaluation of emotions is interestingly illustrated in the TV series Lie to me.

Using emotions in reasoning

When we are happy with life and when we are depressed, will our assessment of the same events be the same? Obviously not. The speed of decision-making at the moment of anger and frustration will also be different. Therefore, the ability to understand how we make decisions in a particular emotional state affects our success.

Emotions affect the ability to reason.

Understanding the causes of emotions

Emotions are not random events. Our body, our psyche, react to various events with different emotions. There are certain rules by which certain emotions arise. Understanding the reason why your interlocutor is now annoyed will allow you to first calm him down, and then get what you wanted from him.

Emotions are an evolutionary mechanism that allows us to convey information to us about what is happening.

Managing emotions

Not all causes of emotion can be changed. You cannot forbid the rain to fall for the third day in a row, but it catches up with melancholy. You can control how you express your emotions. Whatever emotion you feel, you always have a choice.